Novell Feels Open-Source Steam

Angry over Novell'sNOVL alliance with MicrosoftMSFT, powerful members of the open-source movement are threatening to punish the struggling software provider.

Should the threats become reality, a restrictive covenant in a new version of the General Public License, which covers distribution of the Linux, could make it difficult for Novell to distribute the free operating system and related software.

In the worst case, Novell would have to spend as much as $200 million a year to write and market its own software instead of relying on the thousands of programmers who currently contribute code to Novell and other companies at no charge, says Trip Chowdhry, managing director of Global Equities Research.

A crippled Novell, which is already struggling to gain traction with Linux, would fall even further behind Red HatRHT, its major rival.

A new version of the general license, or GPL 3, due in March, will likely stop Novell from distributing 95% of any new Linux-related code developed after it takes effect, and that, says Chowdhry, "will pretty much wipe out any gains that Novell may have gotten from upfront payments from Microsoft."

In November, Microsoft and Novell entered into a partnership aimed at strengthening the smaller company's position in Linux while making Windows and the popular open-source operating system work together. Microsoft also agreed to lend its considerable marketing muscle to the marketing of Novell's Suse Linux.